


the one where chandler and joey tie the knot

by gaygatsby



Category: Friends (TV)
Genre: AU, Gay Marriage is Legal, M/M, chandler and joey looove each other but they don't know it yet, doesnt follow any season/ep story arc, inspired by the proposal (2008) movie, season one/two looks wise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-06
Updated: 2018-08-06
Packaged: 2019-06-22 20:43:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 998
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15590331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaygatsby/pseuds/gaygatsby
Summary: joey, born and raised in Italy, comes to the united states to pursue his dream of acting on a worker's visa. years later he forgets to renew his visa, and he winds up being proposed to by his friend and roommate, chandler bing.





	the one where chandler and joey tie the knot

**Author's Note:**

> ok i know i just published a chanoey fanfic like yesterday or the day before whatever, but i totally was sitting on this idea for awhile and was too excited to wait. 
> 
> differences with canon/time period: (1) this story doesn't follow any particular episode arc, (2) joey isn't italian-amercan in this, instead is in NY on a temporary visa, (3) the pairings also doesnt comply with canon, (4) gay marriage is legal in the 90s

Joey Tribbiani ran into his and Chandler’s shared apartment, number nineteen, in a frenzy. He scribbled to Chandler on the Magna Doodle in his large, almost unreadable handwriting that he should  _ never _ , ever be allowed to collect their mail ever again, and maybe, just maybe this scenario wouldn’t happen again. 

Joey tries to salvage his mind for any recognition of a notice from Immigrant Services about an expired visa, or a need to renew said visa.  _ Nothing _ .

In fact, all that came to mind was all the hot girls he witnessed while gathering the mail. One girl, in particular, stood out with her big boobs and undoubtedly lifted face, and Joey totally could’ve had her in bed if it hadn’t been for her fiance. Ooh, and that girl who—Joey stopped himself. It wasn’t exactly useful information, but would you expect anything less of Joey’s skeevy mind?

Anyway, Joey came to New York from Italy to pursue his dream of acting on a working visa, seeing as the idea of becoming a citizen was far  _ too _ “wordy” and boring, as Joey put it. So instead, he quickly moved into an apartment complex with Chandler, who he initially assumed was gay, and Joey was soon drafted into Chandler’s wacky group of friends who frequented Central Perk. At one point, Rachel, a runaway bride, was welcomed by Monica, who forced the rest of the group to play nice. They all eventually grew onto Rachel—Ross just a little too much.

Here was Joey now, frantically dialing Chandler’s work number. The first time he called he got voicemail, so Joey opted to call Chandler’s personal cell instead. 

Joey chanted as he paced around in circles with a phone held to his ear, “Pick up, pick up, pick up!”

“Hello?” 

“Chandler,” Joey breathed his name with a sigh of relief. If you must know, just the sound of Chandler’s voice made him feel  _ way _ better. Maybe it was the fact that Chandler always had a way of making Joey’s problems go away. Whether that be through Chandler handling the rent in its entirety, covering their groceries and takeout, or just being Joey’s emotional support system.

“What’s wrong, Joe?”

“It’s better to explain if you were here,” Joey said vaguely, “Can ya come home?”

“ _ Joey _ ,” Chandler dragged out the second syllable of his friend’s name pleadingly, worried about him. “Please, tell me what’s wrong. You know that I hate when you do this.”

“Come home!”

After a minute of back and forth, Chandler gave up and gave in, telling Joey that he would come home as soon as he could. 

“See ya soon,” Joey offered lamely.

Chandler huffed and  _ probably _ rolled his eyes, or at least that’s how Joey imagined it, ending the telephone call promptly.

* * *

Chandler, after fumbling with his ring of keys outside their apartment for what seemed like hours, finally unlocked the door. It was  _ never _ locked. Neither him nor Joey made an effort to lock it, and why would they? The gang all wandered in whenever they please; locking it would be an inconvenience.

Now, all he could think about was what the hell is going on with Joey.

He pushed opened the door to find a glum Joey, with his face held in his hands as he stared at the counter. He also seemed vaguely terrified.

“So, what’s  _ so _ important that it couldn’t wait, but it could wait long enough for me to get home?” Chandler mused and then said nonchalantly, “I also got you a meatball sub.”

Chandler held out the wrapped sub for Joey to grab, and he did. Instead of devouring it whole, however, Joey placed it on the counter and  _ stared _ at it.

Chandler had enough of this: “Joe, seriously. What’s wrong? You never turn down a sub, a meatball sub of  _ all _ subs, and this door has been unlocked for as long as we lived here. All of the attempted robbers we’ve made nice with are living proof of that.”

“My visa’s no good, Chandler!” Joey gave in, after all, it would have to come out eventually. “The immigration people are gonna deport me!” 

_ Is that why the door was locked? _

“What? Why?” Chandler asked, “Didn’t you get a notice reminding you to renew your visa?”

“ _ Nooo!  _ I didn’t even know ya had to do that!” Joey confessed loudly, so loudly that Chandler almost put his hands to his ears. “The  _ one _ time I actually check for my mail in the stack, it’s the immigratin’ people telling me I gotta leave. What am I gonna do? I like it here. Hell, I like you! You’re my best bud!”

Without the slightest bit of hesitation, Chandler said as if it was no big deal, “Let’s get married.” 

Newsflash, it’s a big deal, Chandler.

“W-What?” Joey sputtered in disbelief. “You  _ can’t _ be serious!” 

“Come on, Joe, think about it,” Chandler said. “We know  _ everything _ about each other, we live together, you’re financially dependent on me—we’re practically married! Hell, we might as well be!”

Joey got pouty at Chandler’s abundantly clear poke at the fact that Joey owes Chandler  _ a lot  _ of money, however, it’s not exactly untrue. Chandler makes a good point, but Joey couldn’t accept it. Tribbianis don’t accept charity. 

Even though Joey already has. 

_ Countless _ times.

“I don’t want to owe you anything, Chan.”

“And you won’t!” 

Joey thought about it, about how it would go against his better judgment. But then Joey remembered he didn’t have a better judgement,  _ just _ people like Chandler and everyone else in the world. 

But would he even be convincing as a gay man? Chandler has that  _ quality _ , but Joey doesn’t. However, there is that phrase “too hot to be straight”. Yeah, everyone’ll go for it! 

Joey couldn’t believe what he was getting himself into, but mostly didn’t actually know what he was getting himself into.

“I’ll be able to stay here with ya?”

“Forever and ever.”

That seemed like a pretty good deal to Joey.


End file.
